Printing mechanism



G. M. BRECKENRIDGE. PRINTING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILEDYSEITI 27, I9I7.

- Patented A r; 13, 1920.

4 SHEETS-SHEET I.

I N Em I II IIIIII II H IWIII e. M. BRECKENRIDGE.

PRINTING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED SEPTI 27. I917.

Patented Apr. 13, 1920 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I In I I I 42 13.; jive/2e 12 I 1 1; arme G. M. BRECKENRIDGE.

PRINTING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 27. 1917.

1,336,988. PatentedApr. 13,1920..

4 SHEETSSHEET 3.

G. M. BRECKENRIDGE.

PRINTING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 27. 1917.

Patenteti Apr. 13 192%.,

4 SHEETSSHEET 4- erurnp STATES PATENT OFFICE GEORGE 1VI. BRECKENRIDGE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JAMES P. MCL'IANUS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PRINTING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

Application filed. September 27, 1917. Serial No. 193,445.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnonon M. BRECKEN- RIDGE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Printing ldechanisms, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in printing mechanisms, especially adapted for printing the indorsement on bank checks or the like, the present invention constituting an improvement on the construction set forth in my prior Patent No. 1,080,321, dated December 2, 1913.

The invention consists in the combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view, with portions broken away and others shown in section, of a printing machine embodying the invention,

Fig. 2, a front view of the same, with portions broken away and others shown in section,

Fig. 3, a transverse section of the machine,

Fig. 1, a detailed view of starting and stopping mechanism employed in the machine,

Fig. 5, an end View of the machine, with portions broken away,

Fig. 6, a detailed view of a portion of the starting and stopping mechanism looking at the other side from that illustrated in Fig. 5, and i Fig. 7, a horizontal section corresponding with Fig. 6, illustrating a form of electrical switch employed in the machine.

The preferred form of construction as illustrated in the drawings comprises a suitable casing or standard 8, having a shaft 9 extending through the upper portion there of and carrying a printing roller 10 of any usual or desired construction, cooperating with a spring held impression roller 11 and a spring held inking pad roller 12 as shown, so much of the construction being old and well known and constituting no part of my present invention except in so far as the same cooperates with the parts hereinafter described.

A sprocket wheel 13 is loosely mounted on the shaft 9 and carries a lateral extension or hub let, having a plurality of detent holes 15 arranged on a circle, with the axis of shaft 9 as a center. A spring held detent 16 is arranged on a clutch arm 17 in position to enter and engage with any one of the holes 15, said clutch arm 17 being pivoted at 18 in a housing or casing 19 fixed to the end of shaft 9, as best shown in Figs. st and 5. Arm 17 is normally pressed into operative relation with the hub 14 by means of a coiled spring 20 as shown. As shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6 an oscillatory saddle 21 is pivoted on a stud 22 and is provided with a forwardly extending stop arm 23 arranged to ride upon the periphery of hub M and provided with a laterally arranged deflecting nose 2 1- and a cooperating stop shoulder 25 as best shown in Fig. 1. B i this arrange ment, upon upward swinging of stop arm 23, the shaft 9 will be released for rotation and the clutch arm 17 released to permit of the engagement of detent 16 with one of the holes 15, thus operatively connecting the shaft 9 with the sprocket wheel 13 and causing rotation of said shaft with said sprocket wheel.

Saddle 21 carries a forwardly extending rocker arm 27 provided with a pin 28 ar ranged to engage a notch 29 in a spring held detent 30 pivoted on one arm 31 of a bell crank rocker arm loosely mounted on shaft 9. The other arm 32 of said bell crank extends upwardly and rearwardly as shown and is provided at its upper end with an inwardly extending supporting arm 33, to which, is secured a movable check guide 34- by means of a set screw 35. The other end of the guide member 3 1 is supported by rocker arm 36, having a sleeve or hub 37 loosely bearing on shaft 9 and adapted to pass freely over the end thereof. By this arrangement it will be observed that the guide member 34k may be readily removed by loosening screw to give access to the printing mechanism.

The sprocket wheel 13 is driven on a sprocket chain 38 from a sprocket 39 on a shaft 40, in turn driven by pulley 41 by a bell crank 42 from an ordinary electric motor 43, the arrangement being such as to drive the sprocket wheel 13 at a much reduced speed. The motor 43 is supplied with electric current through wires 44 and 45 leading from an ordinary push button switch 46 for supplying or cutting off the current from the machine. The wire 44 is divided as shown in Fig. 5 and connected to the op posite terminals of a switch member 47 having contacts coiiperating with a connecting contact 48 mounted on the lower end of a switch lever 49 arranged to be operated by spring 26 to close the electric motor circuit. Spring held detent 5O cooperates with a stop pin 51 on switch lever 49 and also with a spring held detent 52 on bell crank arm 31. The arm 53 is fixed to shaft 9, adjacent the inner side of sprocket 13, and is provided with an inwardly extending stop pin 54 arranged to engage laterally extending lugs 55 and .56 on the detents 30 and 52, the arrangement being such that passage of pin 40 operates said detents to release them from engagement with other cotiperatingparts. A cam projection 57 is secured on switch lever 49 in the path of the end of the arm 53. the arrangement being such that passage of the arm 53 throws the switch arm 49 to break contact between members 47 and 48 and thus temporarily break the circuit through the motor 43. The arrangement is such that manual depression of the guide 34 in inserting a check or the like into the printing mechanism releases shaft 9 and at the same time connects the same with sprocket 13 and closes the switch lever 49. This causes operation of the rotary printing mechanism in the usual way to indorse or print the check. Upon release of the guide member 34 the stop arm 23 returns to operative position, riding upon the periphery of hub 14, and detent 52 disengages detent to permit of its automatic engagement with pin 51 to lock the switch lever 41 in open position, thus preparing the machine for the printing of another check. However, should the guide 34 be accidentally or purposely held in depressed position for a suflicient length of time, the pin 54 strikes the lugs and 56 and automatically returns the parts to initial position irrespective of the manipulation of guide 34 and during printing operation on the corresponding check so that proper operation of the machine is made en tirely independent of the proper manipulation of theguide member 34.

A feed table 58 is arranged immediately forward of the guide 34 and stationary guide 59 is arranged behind guide 34 in operative relation with rollers 10 and 11 to facilitate thefeeding of checks thereto. Guide 59 is provided with depending forwardly curved guide fingers 60 leading through a discharge hopper 61 formed inthe casing 8 immediately under the table 58, the arrangement being such that checks or sheets fed through the printing mechanism will be turned upside down, from the position in which they are fed, and deposited in a stack or pile in discharge hopper 61. In this way a stack or pile of checks may be arranged on the feed table 58, either face up or face down as desired, and said checks will be discharged after printing into the discharge hopper 61 in the same relative relation as they occupied in the pile from which they were fed, so that all that is necessary to restore them to precisely the same condition is to reverse the entire stack or pile. This greatly facilitates the proper examination of the checks and keeping of proper records thereof. The specific form and arrangement of parts is a simple and effective one for the purpose.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of variation and modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variations and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claim.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A machine of the class described comprising a casing; a printing roller arranged in said casing adjacent the top thereof, there being an opening in said casing giving access to said printing roller; an impression roller arranged in said casing adjacent the top thereof and in operative relation with said printing roller, the forward portion of the top of said casing constituting a table for feeding articles to said rollers; and a guide situated to the rear of said rollers to guide articles to be printed thereto, said guide eX- tending downwardly beyond said rollers and thence forwardly to direct the printed articles to a position under said table, substantially as described. 1

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE M. BRECKENRIDGE.

Witnesses:

JosHUA It. H. Po'r'rs, JANET E. FARRELL. 

